Arrest in Roaming Rapist Case

Sheriff's Dept. / Posted: Saturday, November 10, 2012

On the evening of November 8th,, detectives from the Sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau arrested a man in connection to a series of sexual assaults between 1998 and 2002. Dereck Sanders, 39, was taken into custody in the city of Isleton and booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail. He is currently being held on $5,000,000 bail.

Between April, 1998, and May, 2002, a number of sexual assault incidents occurred in various areas of Sacramento County. The suspect was described as a black male adult, 20 to 35 years of age, between 5'8" and 5'10" tall with a medium to stocky build.

Investigation resulted in the construction of a DNA profile of the same suspect, believed responsible for all of the aforementioned crimes. In December of 2011, a family member of Sanders was arrested and booked into custody for a felony crime. As a result, this family member's DNA was entered into a database, and eventually led to a comparable profile of the suspect associated with these sexual assault incidents.

Further investigation led detectives to focus on Sanders, who's DNA was recovered from a discarded item by detectives who were conducting surveillance of him. An expedited processing of Sanders' DNA profile from that item established a definitive connection to that of the suspect in the unsolved crimes. An arrest warrant was issued for Sanders, which led to his arrest.

Detectives believe that there may additional victims of crimes committed by Sanders. Anyone having information pertinent to this investigation is asked to contact the Sheriff's Sex Assaults Bureau at (916) 874-5070.